Pseudonymous Attribution
Attribution to a pen name, alias, or assumed name rather than a legal name.
Pseudonymous attribution is the practice of crediting a work to a false name adopted by its author. It is common in literature (Mark Twain for Samuel Clemens, George Orwell for Eric Blair), in music (stage names), and in political writing (Publius for the authors of The Federalist).
The principle of attribution does not change because the name is invented. The reader still needs to know who wrote the work and, if necessary, the relationship between the pseudonym and the person. Citation guides usually instruct writers to cite the name under which the work was published, adding the real name in brackets if it helps identification.
Pseudonyms can be protective, playful, or strategic. A whistleblower uses a pseudonym to avoid retaliation; a novelist uses one to separate genres; a collective uses one to hide individual authorship. The ethical rule is the same: do not reveal a pseudonym against the author's wishes, and do not attribute a pseudonym's work to the wrong person.
Common mistake: using the real name as if it were the published name. Cite the name on the title page; the biographical note can explain the rest.
“Twain, Mark [Samuel L. Clemens]. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 1884.”
Keep reading the glossary
The act of naming the original speaker or writer of a quote.
Assigning a quote to the wrong person — the most common error in quotation.
Crediting a work or quotation to an unnamed author, and doing it honestly.
The honest way to cite a quotation you found in a second-hand source rather than the original.